Into It with Sam Sanders
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Two love interests meet.
They are opposites and yet they attract.
The leads are two men who have very gay sex in this film, including foursomes and wrestle play.
As Eichner has mentionedonceortwice, this is groundbreaking for a mainstream-studio rom-com.
Brosis getting a big theatrical release from Universal.
Its going to movie theaters exclusively before streaming, and it was given a healthy marketing budget.
I was really surprised by that.
I love and respect Billy, but I was still surprised that he thought of me for this role.
So they picked you for this?Yes.
Billy wanted that energy there because the romantic comedy, as it exists, is heteronormative.
But you play this character who is not depressed because of his body or anything else.
When you were channeling that role, how much of it was you pushing against straight tropes like rom-coms?
And to live out trauma.To live out trauma and also to displace trauma.
I have been the sassy gay friend in a romantic comedy before.
And I was really pleased with that.
I also love that this movie accepted that all kinds of gay men have a good amount of sex.
We think its fun, but the story feels the need to punish him.
Theres beena lot of discoursearound this film and a discourse around that discourse.
Its a Yiddish phrase, and it basically means Youre embarrassing us in front of the Gentiles.
With this movie, there was a sense of wanting to represent your group responsibly.
And a vision of queerness that they maybe can put themselves on top of, put themselves in.Right.
(Something along those lines; I havent read it since college.)
But there is a fear when you are doing something for the first time that youre doing it wrong.
Theres already been that comparison.Yes.
We got two big-budget gay romantic comedies this year.
Its exciting.Brosand Universal have been really intent on talking about what a historic thing theyre doing.
TheresBillys Hollywood Screen Kiss.
Its all very annoying, but also its 100 percent unavoidable.
A year from now, this discourse wont matter.
What will matter is the art that was made.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
